Fawlty Towers Re-Boot?
Castle Rock Entertainment have announced a deal with John Cleese to bring back the classic comedy Fawlty Towers. the proposed re-boot will see him reprise his role as Basil Fawlty and will also star his daughter Camilla.
It’s 44 years this year since we last saw Basil in an episode entitled Basil The Rat and with Connie Booth now out of the industry, Prunella Scales now suffering from Alzeimers disease and the sad passing of Andrew Sachs, could it work?
Well they re-worked Open All Hours rather successfully so all things are possible.
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Since that final episode there has been much talk of a revival, indeed even John Cleese himself said in an interview for the complete DVD box set, which was republished in the book Fawlty Towers Fully Booked) that he once had the genesis of a feature-length special – possibly sometime during the mid-1990s. The plot, never fleshed out beyond his initial idea, would have revolved around the chaos that a now-retired Basil typically caused as he and Sybil flew to Barcelona to visit their former employee Manuel and his family. Of the idea, Cleese said:
“We had an idea for a plot which I loved. Basil was finally invited to Spain to meet Manuel’s family. He gets to Heathrow and then spends about 14 frustrating hours waiting for the flight.
Finally, on the plane, a terrorist pulls a gun and tries to hijack the thing. Basil is so angry he overcomes the terrorist, and when the pilot says, ‘We have to fly back to Heathrow’ Basil says, ‘No, fly us to Spain or I’ll shoot you.’ He arrives in Spain, is immediately arrested, and spends the entire holiday in a Spanish jail.
He is released just in time to go back on the plane with Sybil. It was very funny, but I couldn’t do it at the time. Making ‘Fawlty Towers’ work at 90 minutes was a very difficult proposition. You can build up the comedy for 30 minutes, but at that length there has to be a trough and another peak. It doesn’t interest me. I don’t want to do it.”
Now in 2023,
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The 83-year-old actor and writer will reprise his role as Fawlty in the new show, while his daughter, Camilla, will star alongside him as the hotelier’s recently returned long-lost daughter.
The new series will explore how the dramatic and cynical Basil navigates the modern world, while running a boutique hotel.
The actor and director Rob Reiner will act as an executive producer on the series, along with his wife and actress Michele Reiner, and the director and producers Matthew George and Derrick Rossi.
“By dessert, we had an overall concept so good that, a few days later, it won the approval of Rob and Michele Reiner. Camilla and I look forward enormously to expanding it into a series.”
At the time of writing things were no more than an idea with no details of any planned release date, but it looks like one to watch out for
Source and full article: Sky News